Zalman Z9 Plus Mid-Tower Chassis Review

[Rob Williams]

It's been a good two-and-a-half years since we've taken a look at a Zalman chassis, so with the announcement of the ~$69 Z9 Plus, we were eager to get one in and see how it compared to the current fleet of sub-$100 offerings on the market. With that, let's see what the Z9 Plus gives us aside from its good looks and focus on efficient airflow.

Read through Ryan's in-depth look at Zalman's latest budget chassis and then discuss it here!

 

[Xantor]

What's up with the highly restrictive PSU bottom intake grill? Big mistake by Zalman!

The front panel's "Z" makes it looks interesting, but again highly restrictive for the front intake fan.

 

[Rob Williams]

What's up with the highly restrictive PSU bottom intake grill? Big mistake by Zalman!

No kidding! Even with the other couple of oversights with the chassis, that one is kind of mind-boggling. It's too bad, too, since we had huge expectations from this chassis.

Good to see you around, by the way!

 

[Optix]

Ideally the high airflow "honeycomb" mesh would work the best but there is tons of air flow available for the power supply. It rests on foam pads that raise it up so it can draw air through the vents but also from within the case itself.

Most modern power supplies use low RPM fans with PWM to manage fan speed based on temperatures so it's not like it's a Delta struggling to suck in 110CFM.

I don't generally tend to get hung up on the vent style unless it's super restrictive like what is usually found on older or low end cases such as...

Even the front Z-pattern had some extra venting so again, it shouldn't affect things too badly. Cooling on the Zalman case was actually very good. It held its own with a Lian Li PC-50WB that costs over three times as much and uses mostly 140mm fans but at a fraction of the noise.